Council temporarily punts on green initiative

By Josh Baugh - Express-News :
August 5, 2010

City Councilman John Clamp on Thursday temporarily derailed a plan to convert five of the city's Toyota Prius fleet vehicles to plug-in hybrids after asking a few surprise questions about the contractor selected to do the work.

Clamp's inquiry sent city staff scurrying for answers, but not before the council decided to push the issue back to the next council meeting.

The council was headed toward approving a $62,500 low-bid contract with ZWHEELZ, LLC, to convert five Priuses to plug-in hybrids. The company was one of two to bid on the project, which is funded through federal stimulus dollars.

Before the council voted on the issue, Clamp said he'd “done some research on the contractor” and wondered aloud whether city staff had.

“His business is really a residence, and he's not in good standing with the state,” Clamp said. “I don't get a good feeling that he's the right guy.”

But by lunchtime, Gary Krysztopik, owner of ZWHEELZ, had cleared up questions around the issues Clamp had raised.

Krysztopik said he filed paperwork with the Texas comptroller's office that he'd incorrectly dated “2010” rather than “2009.”

“It was a stupid typo on my part, and I was already in the process of clearing that up,” Krysztopik said Thursday.

And while he uses his home address as his business mailing address, Krysztopik said ZWHEELZ has a workshop that's already been approved by the conversion kit's manufacturer. Still, city staffers were scheduled to tour the facility Thursday afternoon to assuage concerns.

Clamp said his intent wasn't to embarrass anyone but to ensure city vendors are in compliance. The councilman said his staff researched the company and found problems with the comptroller's paperwork.

“I didn't even get to my cost-analysis questions,” said Clamp, who added that he likely wouldn't oppose the project once due diligence is done on ZWHEELZ.

The five converted cars would be used by Downtown Operations, the Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Metropolitan Health District, Fleet Maintenance and Operations, and the City Manager's Office.

Krysztopik said the kits, manufactured by Hymotion/A123 Systems, have been crash-tested, and they've been approved by the Environmental Protection Agency. Because of the cost — at $12,500 per vehicle — the kits are geared toward government fleets.

If the council votes to approve the contract, the manufacturer will send a crew to San Antonio to train ZWHEELZ and designate the company as a certified installer, Krysztopik said. Once that happens, ZWHEELZ will be the only certified installer in the Southern United States, Krysztopik said, with the closest competition being in Colorado and Arizona.

Krysztopik said government agencies — from the feds to locals — are considering the conversion kits, which include additional battery capacity and allow for plug-in charging. That makes the Prius even greener — with the kit, it can go up to 40 miles without using fuel, further reducing emissions.

“The standard Priuses — up through the 2010 model — have a gasoline engine and an electric engine,” he said. “They have to burn gas to recharge the batteries, which doesn't make sense.”